Mpls. City Council members urge JPMorgan Chase to cut Trump ties

Minneapolis City Council members are calling for JPMorgan Chase to sever its ties with the Trump administration and divest from private prisons and immigration detention centers, the latest move by city leaders to push against the administration from a local level.

Council Members Elizabeth Glidden, Cam Gordon and Lisa Bender sent a letter to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on June 27 calling for the bank to withdraw from President Donald Trump’s business council, issue a statement against Trump’s “anti-immigrant, refugee and Muslim agenda” and stop financing private prison companies and immigration detention centers.

It’s the second time in less than a year that council members have taken issue with a major bank’s investment practices. In December, the council asked city staff to explore ending the city’s relationship with Wells Fargo because of the bank’s investment in the Dakota Access pipeline.

Minneapolis is scaling back its relationship with Wells Fargo and other big banks. The city previously had a mutual fund investment with JPMorgan Chase, but it has not had a relationship with the bank for at least four years, said Chief Financial Officer Mark Ruff.

The letter was spurred by the national Corporate Backers of Hate campaign, an effort by two nonprofits — the Center for Popular Democracy and Make the Road New York — to put pressure on corporations that support the Trump administration or stand to benefit from its policies. A spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase declined to comment.

“This is just part of a broader effort to ensure that those who lead some of our largest corporations in the United States have input from those of us who are affected by their business practices,” Glidden said. “If we are silent, we have only ourselves to blame.”

The campaign, which launched in April, targets corporations including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock. The campaign’s leaders draw a connection between Trump’s January executive orders on immigration and the ways in which investors in private detention facilities could benefit if those facilities are expanded as a result of the president’s policies.

“It’s our position that corporations and their leadership should not be let off the hook for their involvement with Trump, and the ways in which they are positioned to profit from his agenda,” said Deborah Axt, co-executive director at Make the Road New York.

Minneapolis leaders came out against the January executive orders in February, passing a resolution condemning Trump’s actions and directing city staff to create a sanctuary city task force aimed at better protecting undocumented immigrants, Muslims and refugees living in the city.

Council members aren’t planning to introduce any policies or resolutions related to JPMorgan Chase, Glidden said.